


Where Lightning Touched The Sea

by ReaganJenelle



Series: Static [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Percy Jackson, Greek and Roman Mythology - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prophecy, Prophetic Dreams, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-13 21:14:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11193564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaganJenelle/pseuds/ReaganJenelle
Summary: Jason watched me closely as I climbed down from the crows nest."How long?" He asked abruptly.My shoulders tensed as I turned to face him. "How long, what?"Irritation flashed across his features. He stepped towards me. "How long have you know what Juno has planned, what Gaea has planned?"Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed in frustration. "Does it matter?""It does when it's about us!" He snapped.





	Where Lightning Touched The Sea

I slung my arms around Frank and Hazel's shoulders as we walked toward the Square a giant war ship was depending on. In the distance the horns of war blew across the valley and into New Rome. No doubt the Legion was already in formation and matching this way with their war elephants. 

The ship was truly a thing to behold. Celestial bronze gleamed brightly in the lazy afternoon sun. At least ninety oars moved in sync along eitherside of the massive hull, and a dragon figurehead breathed flames every so often with smoke curling from its nose. I had no doubt that if the Senate hadn't received a message before hand, the ship would have more to worry about than just finding a space to land. 

"That's amazing." Frank gawked to my right.

"Definitely better than the Roman navy." I replied with a sly smile.

The three of us laughed as we recalled the dingy boat that had once consisted of the entire Roman fleet. It had truly been a pitiful sight, especially considering that we had been expected to make it to Alaska without sinking. Needless to say, the poor boat met it's end long before our destination. 

And echoing _BOOM_ rocked the ship above us. I chuckled to myself at the thought of Annabeth trying to get Terminus, the god of boundaries, to allow the weaponized ship to land in New Rome. He was no doubt telling them off for both attempting to land, and being Greek. As we waited, the Square filled with Romans, all of them gawking at the floating ship. Anticipation filled my chest. Annabeth, my best friend, was up there. It had been almost a year since I disappeared from Camp Half-Blood. A lot had changed since then, I had changed. As if sensing my thoughts, the newly burned SPQR tattoo itched on my arm. A triton stood out boldly on my forearm along with a single solid black line representing my first year at the Roman camp. My once shoulder length hair was now to the middle of my back in thanks to the six months I had spend in a deep sleep, followed by the four months I had spent running from monsters and trying to free death. It tumbled in loose waves down my back, rustling with the breeze. 

Several minutes passed before the ship stopped it's decent and a rope ladder was tossed over the side. One by one, four figures made their way down onto Roman soil and into the parted crowd. A murmur rose up from the crowd. 

 _Jason_.

I could hear Reyna speaking to the newcomers as I pushed my way to the front of the crowd. "Jason Grace. My former colleague. I welcome you home, and these your friends-"

I broke free of the crowd. Annabeth stood proud before my fellow praetor, listening to her address someone to left. Her grey eyes met mine.

A wide smile speed across my face as we surged towards each other. I couldn't help the goofy smile as I hugged my best friend. God's I had missed her. She squeezed me as if making sure I wouldn't disappear again. 

"Hey, Anna- _oof_!" 

Annabeth had grabbed my arm, flipped me over her shoulder, and had her arm pressed to my throat with her knee planted in the center of my chest. Some of the Roman demigods surged forward and reached for swords that weren't there.

"Hold!" Reyna shouted. "Stand down!"

"If you ever disappear like that again, I swear to all the gods-!" Annabeth threatened angerly, grey eyes hard as marble. 

The crowd was stunned into silence.

A laugh bushed past me lips. It was so Annabeth to threaten me for scaring her. After a moment, her eyes softened and she couldn't help but laugh back.

"Consider me warned." I said with a grin. "I missed you, too."

Annabeth helped me to my feet with a grin that matched mine. I wanted to show her around the city. The architecture here was beyond belief, and I had no doubt she could spend hours studying the different building. Movement behind Annabeth shoulder made me look away from my friend. 

A blond boy stood there, his hand half raised. His clear blue eyes were fixed on my face, searching for something. He was, for lack of a better word, beautiful. Golden hair swiped from his face, a straight nose over full lips, and tanned skin over muscles gained from years of training. This was the kind of boy girls fell over themselves for. The only imperfection on his face a a faint scar the cut through the side of his mouth, and even that seemed to enhance his looks.

"It's you." He said in a breathless tone.

"It's me." I said back, eyebrows raised. "Do I know you?"

In the blink of an eye that vulnerability was replaced with guarded look. "No, you don't."

Annabeth filled the awkward growing silence. "Percy, this is Jason, son of Jupiter."

I knew that name. Gaea had spoken of him to me in Alaska, of her plans for us. I didn't tell Frank or Hazel about the vision Gaea had given me when I was sinking into the earth. At the time it had seemed too personal. It still did.

Holding out my hand to him, I smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

His hand was warm and calloused from years of handling weapons. "Likewise."

"That's Leo," Annabeth pointed to a skinny boy with wild black hair and an impish grin. He flashed a peace sign. "And Piper." Piper was a very pretty girl with obvious native American heritage and high cheek bones. She smiled shyly.

Annabeth turned to Reyna. "I'm Annabeth. I promise I don't normally judo flip people."

Reyna's eyes sparkled in amusement. "Are you sure your not a Roman, Annabeth? Or an Amazon?"

The blonde girl held out her hand. "I only attack seaweed brain like that."

I laughed at the appreciative look Reyna was giving Annabeth.

"It seems we have a lot to discuss. Centurions," Reyna called after clasping hands with Annabeth. A few of the senior officers hustled forward awaiting orders. Frank and Hazel stepped up on either side of me. Annabeth sent them a calculating look. "Tell the Legion to stand down. Dakota, alert the spirits in the kitchen. Tell them to prepare a welcome feast. And Octavian,"

Said boy stepped out of the crowd, a look of shocked anger on his face. "You're letting these intruders into the camp? Reyna, the security risks!"

"We're not taking them to camp, Octavian." The dark haired girl said with a calm that came with year of practice. "We'll eat here, in the forum."

"Oh, much better." He grumbled. "You want us to relax in the shadow of their war ship."

"These are our guests." Reyna clipped off every word in stern annoyance. "We will welcome them, and we will talk to them. As augur, you should burn an offering to the gods for bringing Jason back to us safely."

"Good idea." I said. "Go burn your bears, Octavian."

Reyna looked like she was trying not to smile. "You have my orders. Go."

The officers dispersed. Octavian shot me a look of absolute loathing. Then he gave Annabeth suspicious once over and stalked away.

I bumped my shoulder against Annabeth's as she watched the agitated boy push through the crowd. "Don't worry about him. Most of the Romans are good people, like Frank and Hazel here. And Reyna. We'll be fine."

Annabeth looked back up at the floating ship in unease. She looked to be fighting with herself on what to do. I would bit it past her if she was debating just grabbing me and leaving.

"We'll be fine." She repeated as though trying to convince herself.

I couldn't bring myself to share in her unease. After nearly a year of stumbling around the country with no memories and finally recovering them along with my friends, I felt to happy to worry. That was one of the big differences between Annabeth and me. She planned ahead and calculated risk, weighing her options while I lived in the moment, glad to just relax and react to thing as they came to pass.

"Excellent." Reyna said before turning to Jason. There was a sort of hungry gleam in her eyes as she regarded the boy, as though there might be something between them. "Let's talk, and we can have a proper reunion."

She and Jason led the way towards the way to the forum. Annabeth scanned the buildings, appraising the structures and storing the architecture in her mind for later. I pointed out a few gardens and pavilions that I had come to enjoy in my time spent in New Rome. The long purple praetor's cape brushed the ground behind me as I fiddled with my toga. It was still strange to think that the Romans still wore these. You didn't see Greeks running around like this.

A few times I caught Annabeth staring at my SPQR tattoo. She seemed less than pleased with the mark that branded my arm. It couldn't be helped, really. Not if we truly wanted to bridge the gap between our camps.

At the forum long tables were set up along with squishy couches and comfortable chairs. In no time they filled up with demigods and spirits whisking around platters of pizza, burgers, brisket, and other mouth watering foods. 

I somehow managed to find myself sitting between Annabeth and Jason on an over stuffed couch, munching on a slice of hot pepperoni pizza. Introductions were made around the table as we ate. Hazel and Annabeth seemed to hit it off well, with Piper joining in the conversation every so often. I watched as Leo constructed a helicopter out of tinfoil, and tossed it into passing wind spirits, watching it fly around. 

Reyna raised her glass in a toast to friendship before asking Jason what had happened to him in the past year, and how he wound up with the Greeks.

"When I woke up, I had no memories of who I was or how I had gotten there." He explained as we listened to his story. "The only thing I could remember was a girl, and her name."

He paused fo a second before looking down at me. "Perseus."

Everyone's eyes sought out my face as I drew my eyebrows together. "Me? But we don't even know each other."

"Hera." Annabeth mumbled next to me as if it explained it all. In a way it did. Hera was the one who forced Jason and I to trade places. No doubt Jason's 'memory' of me was some plan of hers to bring the two camps together.

We listened as Jason explained the quest he had been sent on with Piper and Leo to free Juno from where she was being held captive in the Wolf House in northern California. 

"Impossible." Octavian broke in. "That's our most sacred place. If the Giants had imprisoned a goddess there,"

"They would have destroyed her," Piper said. "And blamed the Greeks, and started a war between the camps. Now be quiet and let Jason finish."

I couldn't help the smirk that covered my lips as Octavian turned pink. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Huh, Piper must have charmspeak. 

"So, that's how we found out about the earth goddess, Gaea. She's still half asleep, but she's the one freeing the monsters from Tartarus and raising the giants. Porphyrion, the leader we fought at the Wolf House, said he was retreating to the ancient lands- Greece itself. He plans on awakening Gaea and destroying the gods by  _pulling up their roots_.

"Gaea's been busy over here, too. We've had our own encounter with Queen Dirt Face." I said, leaning forward. 

It was then my turn to explain how I had woken up with no memories at the Wolf House, and how I was then sent to find this camp. I explained how I had the curse of Achilles, but to cross into the camp I was forced to give it up. Annabeth squeezed my hand tightly in hers. I was no longer safe from most attacks. I then explained how I was sent on a quest with Frank and Hazel, traveled to Alaska, defeated Alcyoneus, freed Thanatos, retrieved the lost Eagle of The Twelfth Legion, and returned to Camp Jupiter to protect if from an army of monsters.

Jason's eyes looked thoughtful as he studied my face. "No wonder they made you praetor."

Octavian snorted. "Which means we now have three praetors. The rules clearly state we can only have two."

"On the bright side," I said, turning to Octavian. "Jason and I both outrank you, so we can both tell you to shut up."

 Octavian turned as purple as my camp shirt. Jason smiled at me in amusement. I grinned back at him. Even Reyna managed to smile, though her eyes were stormy. 

"We'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later." She said. "Right now we have more serious issues to deal with."

"I'll step aside for Jason." I said easily. "It's no biggie."

"No  _biggie_?" Octavian choked. "The praetorship of Rome is  _no biggie_?"

I chose to ignore him, and turned my attention to Jason. "You're Thaila Grace's brother, right? You guys look nothing alike."

"Yeah, I noticed." Jason said, also ignoring a sputtering Octavian. "Anyway, thanks for helping my camp while I was gone. You did a great job."

"Back at you."

Annabeth kicked my shin beneath the table. I grunted in pain as Jason sent me a look of concern. "Are you okay, Percy?"

"Just dandy." I grumbled, glaring at Annabeth. 

She raised an eyebrow as if to say,  _'that can wait'_ , before nodding towards Reyna who was watching me with a guarded expression.

"We should talk about the Great Prophecy." Annabeth started. "It sounds like the Romans are aware of it, too?"

Reyna nodded. "We call it the Prophecy Of Seven. Octavian, you have it committed to memory?"

"Of course." He said. "But Reyna-"

"Recite it please. In english, not latin."

Octavian sighed. "Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath-"

"-and foes bare arms to the doors of death." Annabeth finished. 

Everyone stared at her, except Leo. He was busy construction a fleet of helicopters and sending them flying around the room. 

After a pause, Frank sat forward, watching Annabeth with interest. "Is it true you're a child of Min- I mean Athena?"

Annabeth tensed next to me, suddenly defensive. "Yes. Why is that such a surprise?"

 Octavian scoffed. "If your truly a child of the _wisdom_ goddess-"

I opened my mouth to tell him exactly where he could shove his snide comments, but Reyna beat me to it. "Enough. Annabeth is what she says. She's here in peace. Besides," She gave Annabeth a look of grudging respect. "Percy has spoken highly of you."


End file.
